Review: 2018-01-24 - Wonderbar - Asbury Park, NJ
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Setlist, Attendance, and Recordings for: 2018-01-24 - Wonderbar - Asbury Park, NJ
@uconnwes, @603Brett , and I rolled into Asbury Park by 1pm after raging away the night before in Pawtucket, RI when the messages started coming in. The band had forgotten their merch in RI the night before, but we got the message too late to help. We checked-in to our boutique hotel right next to the venue and got settled.
A pre-show meet-up was planned before the show, and we arrived at the Ale House about an hour before the band went on. Nerds were met, food and drinks consumed, and then we headed across the street to Wonderbar.
Showtime found our group on the righthand side rail between Brian and Cam. The band opened with People, containing tight blissful vamping that turned into a frenetic peak featuring some extra flair from Cam.
Backdoor Funk followed, with Red getting extra funky on the clav while Moss patiently built the jam that would eventually explode into the second giant peak in as many tunes.
Firing up America next really got the crowd engaged as the place really began to fill in and get pretty tight. Red got super weird on the virus synth before bringing it way down to Moss to start chugging away at yet another glorious buildup.
Hollywood was next, and maintained the core song's cut time through most of the jam, allowing Brian to really stretch out the chicken picken skills. When the change to straight 4/4 finally occurred, the band used it as its first segue of the night into Dis Go in 5?, one of my favorite tunes. After a quick take on the shortest tune of the set, the band rather clumsily faded into the evenings first cover, Breakdown, before ending the set and promising to return in a few minutes.
There were more drinks, a smoke break, an overzealous security guard who confiscated A LOT of joints, and I was back inside waiting in the ever growing line for the very small men's room. The Postman that opened the set seemed to belong to Red, as his synthy sounds laid the foundation down for Moss to let rip on a soaring peak that brought the entire place to its knees.
Next up was Plans, a song that I didnt appreciate as much when it was newer, but now it has grown on me for being such an awesome type 2 jam vehicle AND I get to yell like Speedy Gonzalez. Brian broke a string during the jam, and runs off to change guitars once the song ends. While he is off stage, Red takes lead and the band begins to jam an intro that will become an other worldly Weasel. Brian was not satisfied with his backup guitar and motions for Wes to come help change the string for him... But Wes has salted caramel all over his paws... And we've been drinking... So the intro rages on a little longer as Brian exits again to change the string himself. He emerges and the band finally kicks into the song... after a 7 minute intro the Weasel is on! Red took the jam to outer space and when they landed, they settled into a slowed down, rambling country groove that became a nasty Funkadelic. What a pairing! As the Weasel's UNTZ UNTZ worked its way back through, I knew we were in for a big finish. Red let out a Money for Nothing tease and Brian turned the Raven loose on the Weasel for its big finish.
A sweet organ tinged intro gave way to the snarl of the startup of Soul to Squeeze. It's always smoking hot with plenty of chicken picken that I just love, plus Jordan's raspy vocals are perfect for it.
The Reprise hit hard to end the set with a ton of energy.
The West LA Fadeaway encore was a seemingly mellow choice after such a heater to end the set but nobody was complaining as we got in our last call before stumbling down the block in search of more late night food and drinks.
Special thanks to @dontjudgedave for the photos!
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That was an incredible show! Great review homie!
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Great review, man. Such a fun show... hopefully get a Saturday show in the area soon and I can actually make it out to a meet up
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Ah ha! So that explains the awesome Weasel intro. That was incredible.
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I think at some point during the Weasel Jordan ran off the stage for a minute to use the bathroom as well
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@dontjudgedave Bet he didn’t have to wait in line as long as I did...LOL!!!
